Page Turners

When 35-year-old outdoorsman Dave Secunda was preparing to start
PlanetOutdoors.com, an adventure sports gear e-tailer, he knew that
the difference between joining the Web retail party and being left
alone in the great outdoors would largely be determined by the
company's online product catalog. "The whole concept
behind PlanetOutdoors.com was the re-creation of a specialty
outdoors store online," explains Secunda.

To put it another way, Secunda counted on the online
presentation of his Boulder, Colorado, company's goods to
impart a strong customer focus, a deep understanding of outdoor
sports and a rich knowledge of the products customers would need.
Secunda's catalog features descriptions written by experts in
the applicable sports, pictures taken by a fashion photographer,
and a multistranded structure that lets visitors find products by
brand, sport or product type.

Focusing attention on your online catalog is a smart idea, say
experts. "Shoppers on the Net are getting very Web
savvy," says Melanie Shannon, co-founder and chief marketing
officer of HipHip Software, the major Miami-based creator of
MerchandiZer e-commerce solutions. "When an online shopper
gets to a site and sees it's unprofessional, they leave almost
immediately."

Another consideration is how many products are in your catalog.
Larger catalogs often require more expensive software and affect
the emphasis you place on navigation-easy navigation is more
important in a catalog with thousands of items than in one with a
few dozen. Text is also key. "Good, full descriptions should
be available for everything you've got," says Schmiedeler.
Offer brief descriptions of the products with links to further
information, and do likewise with photos. Display groups of
products with small thumbnail images; make larger, more detailed
images available by clicking on a link. If you're selling a
product that people tend to want to feel before buying, such as
apparel, present detailed close-ups.

You can develop your site yourself, using inexpensive e-commerce
suite software, or hire someone at up to $100,000 to do it for you.
Most start-ups go the do-it-yourself route and later hire someone
to refine the catalog design. If you do it on your own, budget
several hours a day for a month or so. Cut time and costs by taking
digital pictures of products and writing descriptions before
bringing in outside help.

Whether outsourcing design or doing it yourself, be creative.
Secunda makes his catalog interactive by soliciting product reviews
from customers that other shoppers can read while making purchasing
decisions. Some companies use product configuration software so
shoppers can create their own products by mixing and matching such
things as computer components. Many catalogs also present visitors
with custom pages, based on their past shopping habits.

Whatever you do, don't just create an online version of a
paper catalog. "If all you do is reproduce a paper
catalog," says Secunda, "you'll be missing all the
features that make people want to shop [on your site]."